Content is King. There's no doubt that great content brings all the users to the proverbial yard, but at what cost? And to whom?
1DollarArticle is now offering 500 word articles for US$1 and, while it's safe to say that the internet has disrupted a few traditional businesses, surely the price of good quality content is much greater than that.
If we take a closer look at some of the examples that 1DA has on-site, its clear to see the articles are shoddily written at best, perhaps even copied and pasted from other content snippets on the web. Mini publishing...

This is not another social media article. This is however an article that talks about how and where search and social need to find a home within your online strategy.
Ok, let’s take a step back.
Before social media took off at a rate of knots; it was search marketing that captured the world's attention. There were certain methodologies that you could (and should have) employed to ensure to a large degree that your site would appear high up on Google (or any other search engine’s) results page.
Yes, there were problems and no guarantees and very often there...

I know what you’re thinking: oh no, another social platform guaranteed to eat my life. Zeen is the brand spanking new content curation platform from the creators of YouTube, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. One look at Zeen’s homepage will tell you all you need to know: “discover and create beautiful magazines”. It sounds good in theory right, but what is Zeen like hands on?
Zeen recently opened in beta, so I took the opportunity to test-drive it. I reserved my screen name ages ago, so after receiving my invite I hurriedly entered the URL and got cracking. Setup...

Over the years I have used and reviewed many operating systems, from Linux to Windows and sometimes MacOS. Well when the latest version of OS X was released I was interested in how Apple could have improved the usability for me, a permanent Windows user (and currently a Windows 8 fan). I've used several MacBooks over the years and found the OS rather unintuitive to say the least.
Fast forward to 2012 and Mountain Lion.
Read more on Gearbun.
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Hey, remember when BitCoin was slated as the next big thing? Well despite some ringing a death knell for the online currency, there are still believers.
One such believer is BitInstant, a company looking to act as a bridge between the online currency and the real world. It plans to do so by introducing a Bit Coin credit card.
The card will reportedly function in much the same way as a standard MasterCard, and according to Coding in my Sleep, is set to launch is six to eight weeks time. The site also calls the development is the "biggest...

South African bank FNB, known for these radio ads and well, banking has added the Samsung Galaxy Pocket to its range of smartphones and tablets.
And why should we care? Because until now, FNB's list of devices, which it sells on its online banking website, have never been this cheap. Sure, there's the Blackberry Curve 8520 for R70 monthly but it's not really a smartphone we would recommend. The Galaxy Pocket though is a damn decent smartphone which does what it needs to do without breaking the bank. You see what we did there?
Read more on Gearburn.var vglnk={key:"cc324b6567a9637aa0ff15bc9564b2a5"};!function(e,a){var t=e.createElement(a);t.type="text/javascript",t.async=!0,t.src="//cdn.viglink.com/api/vglnk.js";var...

Chinese mega social network Sina Weibo is set for a major revamp that will see it incorporate Google+ style sharing.
Chinese blog Techweb claims to have exclusive screenshots (translate) of the new version of the social network. The release, called "Version 5" was first outed as existing by Sina CEO Charles Chao during the company's earnings call last week.
One of the most obvious features from the screenshots is a revamped profile page that incorporates elements of Facebook and Google+.
You can also now choose who to share things with, as you can on Google+, by groups including...

If you've ever been involved in the building of a website, you will have seen Lorem Ipsum in action, or at least heard of it. For the uninitiated, it's meaningless placeholder text used by designers until they can actually fill that space with content.
Someone clearly thought that the standard wasn't raunchy enough though. Inspired by the Fifty Shades trilogy, they launched Fifty Shades Generator, "which generates world-class literature based on a pre-defined vocabulary". "Now, creatives can excite clients in more ways than one with Fifty Shades of Greyinspired filler text,: it adds. In the interests of good taste,...

Twitter recently announced changes to its API usage that has stalwart users, like yours truly, in a spin. The three biggest changes we’re going to see are:
Required authentication on every API endpoint: The current version of the API allows developers to access public information without having to authenticate. This means that any old bot can access the public information and that Twitter doesn’t actually know who is using and for what purpose.
Twitter argues that “to prevent malicious use of the Twitter API and gain an understanding of what types of applications are accessing the API in order to...

Walter Benjamin famously wrote in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction that “even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history to which it was subject throughout the time of its existence.”
Since then (and even more so today, much more) people have become accustomed to seeing copies of original artworks reproduced as posters, album covers, calendars, books and endless other mediums....

We live in a mobile world. Our smartphones and tablets have become surrogate limbs, ushering in the post-PC era. A part of that is down to the increasing desire of such devices but an even bigger part is down to how readily they allow us to access the internet, matching -- and in some cases surpassing -- the PC experience. It's hardly surprising therefore that the most recent report from "Queen of the internet" Mary Meeker suggests that mobile accounts for 10% of all web traffic and that 1.1-billion people now have access to 3G connections.
That number is...

The English Football Association (FA) has fined Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand £45 000 for responding to a tweet in which a user called Chelsea player Ashley Cole “choc ice”.
Ferdinand then responded to the tweet, saying “I hear you fella! Choc ice is classic hahahahahaha!!”.
According to Sky Sports news, a charge of improper conduct laid against Ferdiand by the FA was proved to be correct by an independent commission.
On its site the FA issued an official statement saying, "The Commission decided that the comment was improper and brought the game into disrepute.
"In addition, the Commission found that the...

As video, and YouTube in particular, moves closer and closer to the centre of everything that happens on the internet, so innovative thinkers are finding ever more extraordinary ways to leverage its power for good. YouTube is no longer just ground zero for time wasting and idle surfing, it’s become a serious platform for disseminating ideas and stating movements.
Into this burgeoning space comes Thnkr, a YouTube channel which is offering content to inspire and uplift and provoke a media-savvy generation. And the leader in this field, the mighty TED talks should sit up and take notice.
Thnkr is...

For some time now it's been pretty obvious who's been leading the laptop stakes. I don’t want to say it, but let’s just say it’s a company that begins with “A”. Again its caught computer manufacturers around the world with its pants down, consistently innovating with products like the MacBook Air and user interface innovations like multi-touch and Retina Display.
The only premium laptop around has been the Sony Vaio, but even now there is a sense that this brand is falling behind (as a long-term Vaio user, I’m just not excited by the latest releases).
Read more on Gearburn....

SocialxDesign (Social by Design) a high-end social media consulting firm launched this week with Eastwick, a top Silicon Valley PR firm, as investor.
The CEO is Giovanni Rodriguez, who just left Deloitte and used to be a partner at Eastwick, and Chief Strategy Officer Toby Chaudhuri, a top public affairs consultant in Washington, DC.
The two met while working for a White House Hispanic initiative and they realized that large enterprises had a lot to learn from combining Silicon Valley's tech and social media skills, with Washington's expertise in creating communities and maintaining conversations.
Here are some key points, and my analysis...